


Dani's New World

by cvstw



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Drama & Romance, F/M, Fluff, High School
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-10-31 06:41:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 11,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17844365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cvstw/pseuds/cvstw
Summary: Dani is a good-looking girl. Blonde hair, violet eyes, and almost captain of the cheerleading team. She has decided it's her time to shine, no matter what it takes. But when a mysterious student from the North arrives at Westeros High things get complicated.High School AU





	1. The Reorganization

Uniform? Check! Hair? The hairbow actually doesn't look too bad either. It should make do. Dani, checking herself out in the bathroom mirror, is mostly satisfied with the way she looks. The beautiful girl wipes the last strands of hair out of her face, revealing her determined violet eyes.

_I desperately need to convince someone to let me drive their car to school_ , she thinks to herself. After all, it's been months since Dani got her license. Another year of riding the school bus is not what she had in mind.

The little kids from south of Main St kept touching and pulling at her long blonde curls, and fixing her hairdo in the school bathroom every morning repeatedly caused her to be late for everything. Dani never got her uniform's gracious bow to sit as straight as how she had it at home.

“I hope no one will notice,” Dani sighs.

The girl tries to encourage herself: who would pay attention to how fast her flowing hair was tightened, or to how straight the bow would rest on top? But deep down she knew damned coach Cersei would.

A new school year had started, tryouts for the cheerleading team had taken place. The struggling team had been carried by the now graduated seniors to such a degree that the remaining members, Dani included, were at a loss without them. Coach Cersei had decided to completely reorganize the cheerleading team, instead of just letting a few freshmen on. Only the most dedicated, most talented students would be allowed to cheer this year. While many freshmen dared to hope they would be allowed on the team because of this reorganization, Dani feared she might get kicked off.

Cheerleading wasn't just a sport to her; it felt like her purpose. Over the past few years, Dani had fought for her position on the team. She had grown, and now with last year's seniors gone it should be her turn to climb to the top. But life at Westeros High wasn't fair like that. This year everyone was made to fight for what they wanted.

Dani flattens the fabric of her shell and skirt.

“All right then, here we go!” she tells her mirror image.

The grass is still wet from the morning dew when Dani enters the field. The girl purposely shuffles the tips of her white sneakers through the wet grass to get them to shine. She looks up and sees Coach Tywin has already started his warming up routine. Football is not a sport for the weak, especially when Tywin is your coach.

Dani smiles and waves at the boys. A few of them wave back at her, but she is not satisfied. She wants everyone to pay attention to her, or at the very least she craves for that one special boy to notice her. Daario Naharis. This is his last year at Westeros High, and Dani intends to take a chance with him while she still can.

With her chin up, breast out and a beaming bright smile on her face Dani continues to walk to the other side of the field. Daario motivates her in unusual ways. If she could just make sure she would survive the reorganization today, she would be close to him for the rest of the academic year.

Dani walks over to the back of the field where some of the Westeros Clovers have already taken their positions. It's a neatly organized queue, in order of importance. The cheerleaders in the back are shaking with fear. Freshmen, helpless girls whose uniforms are starting to fit a little too tight, and girls who are a lot less agile then before summer break.  
  
"Idiots," Dani whispers mockingly. They don't stand a chance.  
  
With her chin still up in the air, the girl walks straight past them. Further and further she advances, until she steps into position with the top 5 of the queue. This is who Dani is. She is almost there, but not quite there yet. Her second goal this academic year is to become captain of the cheerleading team, preferably par excellence. Therefore Dani must beat Sansa Stark and Obara, Nymeria and Tyene Sand in some way or the other.   
  
_I can achieve this, as long as I make it through the reorganization_ , Dani thinks. She crosses her fingers behind her back when she sees coach Cersei entering the field. _Please. Please. Please!_


	2. Locker Flutter

“Nope. No way. Not going to happen,” Dani says, looking at the boy in disbelieve. “What do you think you’re doing. I didn't allow you to do this!”

Angrily she takes his books and shabby coat out of _his_ locker and hurls them on to the hallway floor. Satisfied, Dani puts her Westeros Clovers uniform away. The poor boy is stunned, he doesn’t say a word.

“You don’t know who you’re dealing with, do you? Who are you anyway?”

The boy still doesn’t reply.

“You know what? It would be better for you not to say anything right now. Like I said, you don’t know who you’re dealing with. This locker,” Dani declares, pointing at the metal compartment, “is mine. And this one too.”

Dani slaps the locker next to the one already occupied by her things. The vulnerable boy takes a few steps back, unsure of what to do.

“You may collect your belongings and leave, young man. Go.”

The boy gathers his things and disappears into the crowded hallway without saying a word. Dani’s locker, and the extra locker she had claimed last winter, were just a few feet away from Daario’s. Dani would not give them up easily.

She closes the locker that holds her uniform, careful not to get any fabric stuck between the door, and grabs her school bag from the one next to it. The girl then turns around, ready to go to class and ready to face the busy hallway, but she stops when she notices Daario approaching her. She had always been skilled at spotting him in the crowd.

Daario leans against the wall opposite of the lockers.

“You shouldn’t hang around here much longer, you’ll be late for class,” he says, to no one in particular. But Dani naturally assumes he is talking to her.

“I’ll stay here for as long as you are here too,” she replies. She smiles at him, but he doesn’t notice.

Daario is scanning the hallway. It’s much less crowded now that classes will start soon. He puts his hands in his jeans pockets and slowly comes up to Dani, now looking at her for the first time.

“We should get to class, I don’t think this place can handle both of our attractiveness at once,” the boy chuckles, laughing at his own joke. “By the way, congrats on making the cheerleading team. I heard you came in second today. That’s pretty impressive.”

“Thanks,” Dani says, softly. Shy almost. This was her first conversation with Daario. It was all she had been dreaming about for the longest time.

“So my locker is quite close to yours, huh? Should I be scared? It is said that you always chase everyone away,” Daario continues to joke.

Dani nods.

“So they say,” she replies, “are you interested in having a second one as well?”

“You can get me one?” Daario asks in awe.

“Absolutely!”

Dani walks over to the locker next to Daario’s and effortlessly opens it, making the distance between hers and his a bit smaller.

“You just have to get rid of the stuff inside, and then it’s ready for you to use. Can you memorize the locker combination or should I write it down for you?” Dani asks, proud to be of service.

“Well, uh,” Daario says, still in awe, “how did you do that?”

“There’s a system. I can tell you later if you’d like?”

Dani takes a pen and a piece of paper from her school bag and intends to write down the locker combination, but Daario stops her. He takes her pen and writes down his phone number.

“Text me,” he says, “I’ll see you around.”

Daario walks away, not looking back, disappearing into a classroom down the hall.


	3. Chewing Gum and Umbrellas

_Good lord, Dani, what did you do wrong this time?_ The girl looks at her lockers, her face puzzled, her shoulders sagged. Both doors are covered in pieces of chewing gum, a slimy gloss on each piece indicated that the vandalists were here just a minute ago. Oh joy.  
  
Dani checks the time on her phone. 5:10 PM. The girl knows she needs to hurry if she wants to catch her bus back home. Getting rid of the gum pieces on her lockers would have to wait. She rushes through the hallways to get to the parking lot in time.  
  
Just in time Dani gets on the big, yellow, noisy school bus. The only empty seat left is the one behind the driver. It’s covered in sand and some sort of cookie crumbs. With a look of disgust, she wipes it clean with a tissue. The girl drops her bag on the seat and sits down next to it, making sure she takes up enough space, so nobody can sit next to her.  
  
The whole ride home, only a few stops but still, Dani tries to think of the reason why someone would stick gum to her locker. She’ll ask a staff member to properly clean it up tomorrow, but that doesn’t solve her problem, it seems like someone is out to get her. The girl sighs. She had almost missed her bus because of this. Just one more reason why I should have a car, she thought. Surely she would be able to convince someone now.  
  
With the idea of being able to drive a car soon putting a content smile on her face, Dani got off the bus. Her house was just at the end of the street up a steep hill. She felt a drop of water on her face before she even made it to the sidewalk.  
  
“Ugh, of course,” Dani sighed.  
  
While the doors of the bus closed behind her, it started to rain. Dani instinctively reached to her backpack to get her umbrella, but at that moment she realized she had left it on the bus.  
  
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Damn it!”  
  
Dani turned around to the bus that had started to leave, ready to run after it before it was completely out of sight, but she didn’t have to. It stopped a few feet away from her. Curious to see what was going on, the girl looked at doors. A short boy got off, her bag in his hands.  
  
“Shit,” Dani says through her teeth.  
  
Abruptly the girl turns around again, and starts briskly walking towards her house at the end of the street. She doesn’t move as fast as she had anticipated. Dani had recognized the boy. Locker boy. She wasn’t in the mood to face him again.  
  
“Daenerys!” the black-haired boy calls out.  
  
Dani couldn’t remember telling him her name. She pretended not to hear him. She kept on walking, at a rapid pace, keeping one of her hands up to prevent the rain from getting into her eyes. The girl cursed herself for changing out of her cheerleading gear at school. If she would still have been wearing her sneakers, she would have been able to run from him, but right now her wedge heels were working against her. It didn’t take long before the boy caught up.  
  
“Hey, Daenerys, here’s your bag. Wait, it’s Dani, right? ” the boy says, panting from his short spurt.   
  
He hinders her from walking away by standing in front of her. There’s a quick flash of fear visible in his eyes when he realized he was standing in front of the girl who had taken his locker, but his solid stance didn’t change. He presses the bag into Dani's hands and steps to the side.  
  
“I’m sorry, I, uh,” the boy stumbles.  
  
Locker boy makes some confused hand gestures, indicating to Dani to walk past him.  
  
“Right,” she says.  
  
Dani takes a for steps, and then some more, before she stops and turns around. _So, what’ s his plan? _ She thinks. _Is he going to stand on that sidewalk and let himself get soaked by the rain? Was this even his stop? _ Dani would have walked straight home, but her curiosity took the better of her. _Where did he learn my name? _  
  
The girl turns around. The boy is still there on the sidewalk, huddled up in is coat. He looks down at his feet.  
  
“Hey,” Dani says.  
  
The boy looks up at her.  
  
“Is your place up the hill as well?” Dani says, pointing at the street ahead.  
  
The boy nods.  
  
“Well come on then,” Dani encourages him.  
  
She grabs her umbrella from the front pocket of her bag and opens it up. Hesitantly, the boy comes closer. He joins Dani under her umbrella.  
  
“Who are you?” she inquires. “And how do you know who I am?”  
  
“I’m Jon Snow, I…” the boy started, he wasn’t sure how to begin.  
  
“Go on, ” Dani insisted, making sure she kept the two of them covered under the umbrella while they walked up the street.   
  
“I’m new in the area. Do you know Thenn Valley High? Up north?” Jon asks.  
  
Dani nods. The name sounds familiar to her, probably because their football teams have played each other at some point in time, or something like that.  
  
“That’s where I’m from. I’m here on a study exchange,” Jon continues.  
  
“Sounds exciting!” Dani exclaims, passionately, “I’ve always wanted to do something like that. Travel the country, or the world even. I don’t want to be stuck in my own world forever. But speaking of my world, this is where I live.”  
  
Dani slows down in front of a prominent colonial house standing at the edge of a forest. It’s relatively remote, as the cul de sac is away from the city center, and there are just a few houses surrounding it.  The cul de sac is about halfway up a steep hill. There is a good view when looking down the street from which they just came. It transitions in a nice view of the city, e specially now that the sun started setting.  
  
“If you can just ignore the rain, it’s actually really pretty up here,” Dani says.  
  
“Wow, I don’t have a view like this from my bedroom window. Your house looks so elegant.”  
  
“Oh me neither, my bedroom is at the other side of the house. All I ever see is the gloomy forest.”  
  
“Me too. Trees, bushes, and some more trees,” Jon points out.  
  
“Wait a minute. Then where exactly do you live? Up in the forest?”


	4. House, home

Jon told Dani about how he had ended up at Westeros High, how he moved here last weekend, where he was staying and who he was staying with. His host family owned a cabin in the forest, somewhere a little farther up the hill. A small dust road, somewhat hidden from the cul de sac by bushes and trees, would take you up to the cabin.  
  
Dani remembered visiting the cabin as a child. An old man and his granddaughter were living up there now, but Dani had not been there in a while. Jon said he was getting along with them well so far.  
  
The umbrella had been too small to protect two people from the rain. Soaking wet, Dani enters her house through the front door. She announces her arrival, but only one of the maids replies. The maid takes Dani’s dripping clothes and hands her a warm towel.  
  
Dani leaves a note for Varys, her adoptive father, on the fridge. As per usual she would likely be in bed by the time he gets home. The girl boils some water and lets the maid bring her dry clothes. She crashes on the plush couch in her leopard print onesie, where she sips on her hot tea and snacks on apple slices while waiting for dinner.  
  
Dani reflects on everything that had happened. It had been her first day back at school, but there had been enough ups and downs to make it feel like a week had passed. The maid had unpacked her school bag at de polished desk in de living room, Dani walked over to grab the note with Daario's number and her phone.  
  
“Hi, it's Dani,” the girl says. Not knowing how to continue, she waits for him to reply.  
  
“Hey.  How's it going?”  
  
“Not bad. I almost missed my bus and had to walk up the street in the rain. My clothes got soaked. But now I'm all warm and cozy cuddled up on the couch,” Dani says, leaving out her gummed locker and locker boy in her reflection.  
  
“I see. That rain was pretty intense.”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“So uh, if you want I can pick you up tomorrow? I'll take my car, and I'll stop right in front of your door. You won't get rained on,” Daario offers.  
  
Dani tries containing her excitement. Taking a car to school? With Daario? That's exactly what she wanted. The girl tries keeping herself from jumping through the room.  
  
“I would appreciate that. Thank you,” she replies, her voice high pitched.  
  
Daario can't tell, but Dani's face shines as brightly as the sun. She gives him her address.  
  
“Where in the world is that at?” Daario laughs.  
  
“Haha, it's a little remote.  But you'll be able to find me, right?”  
  
“Mmm,” Daario thinks out loud, “how about I come over for a bit right now? In that case I won't have to search for your address tomorrow. Your parents aren't home, are they? ”  
  
“No,” Dani says, hiding the trace of sudden sadness in her voice. They will never be. It would always be just her, her brother, Varys and the maids.  
  
The prospect of Daario soon coming to see her, probably having dinner together and maybe hanging out for a bit afterwards, is enough to lift her spirits. They hang up. Dani runs upstairs to her bedroom, the onesie has to go.  
  
Ten minutes later the girl is working on her makeup in front of her closet mirror. She’s mostly just fixing her mascara that got messed up by the rain, but she’s also adding a little blush to her cheeks. Dani puts on a summer dress and covers it with a woolen cardigan.  
  
She hears a car stop in front of the house. Excited, Dani rushes downstairs but the maid beats her to the door.  
  
“What is the meaning of this?” Varys asks, giving Dani a look of disgust. “Dressed up? On a school night? You know better than this.”  
  
Dani freezes. He’s home early. She watches as Varys and a second maid take their wet coats of. Varys doesn’t take his eyes off of her, visibly frustrated. Meeting with friends on school nights was strictly forbidden.  Varys has the second maid grab Dani’s homework from the living room.  
  
“Hand me your phone, take your homework, go to your room, and don’t let me see you until breakfast.”  
  
Dani knew better than to argue.  
  
That following morning, Dani woke up to several missed calls and half a dozen text messages. She had heard Daario’s voice a few minutes after Varys had come home. Why, out of all nights, did that annoying man have to come home last night? One of the maids had sent Daario away. She could forget about her ride to school as well, probably. Dani didn’t dare to call Daario back, afraid she wouldn’t be able to explain the situation. Slowly, with small mouthfuls, she ate her breakfast cereal.


	5. On All Fours

“Sir?” Dani didn't want to face Varys, but the girl knew she was going to have to at some point.  
  
Sooner or later Varys would have come back from whatever he did during the day, Dani had just stopped considering sooner to be an option. Again, the girl calls out to him. One of the maids, Irri, came walking down the stairs carrying a full laundry basket. She nods to a closed bedroom door upstairs.  
  
“Better not to disturb the master right now, child,” Irri whispers.  
  
“Right,” Dani sighs, “do you happen to know how long it would take before he will be available? I have to ask him something. It has to do with getting to school?”  
  
“I’m not sure, sweet child.”  
  
“Can you go find out?”  
  
Almost panicked, Irri looks at the laundry basket she is holding. Dani knows that look very well. It’s the fear everyone in the house felt for disappointing Varys. Everyone but her wicked brother, that is. It seemed like he couldn’t do anything wrong, at least in Varys’s eyes.  
  
“Could you ask one of your classmates, miss?” Irri asks.  
  
“Thank you Irri. I’ll do just that.”  
  
But Dani would not ask one of her classmates. She didn’t want to ask them for a ride, especially not Daario after what went down last night. She wanted to ask Varys for a car. It would have to wait, she wasn’t going to disturb him while he enjoyed his beauty sleep.  
  
“I’m off to school, see you later,” Dani said.  
  
Doreah, the other maid, appears, holding Dani’s school bag and coat.  
  
“I organized your homework, miss. I stored the preparations for chemistry you did last night in your binder in the back pocket.”  
  
“Thank you, Doreah,” Dani takes the bag, puts on her coat, and heads out.  
  
It had rained all night, and even now it was still drizzling. The verge was a big muddy mess. This time the girl was glad she was not wearing her Westeros Clovers uniform, her white sneakers would have turned brown and dirty.  Dani is one of the few girls that doesn’t wear at least part of their gear to school every day. She had heard some students would even sleep in their uniforms sometimes. Not Dani. She wanted to keep her home life and school life as separate as possible.  
  
“Run, hurry!” she hears coming from behind her back.  
  
Jon dashes past her and instinctively Dani begins to run too. Now more aware to her surroundings, she notices the bus is already waiting for them at the bus stop. The driver honks several times to get the children to make haste. _At least_ _he_ sa _w_ _us coming_ , Dani thinks. She and Jon get on the bus, and the driver closes the door behind them.  
  
The bus drives away before the two can get to a seat. Panting, Jon sits down on the first free bench he sees. There is plenty of room on the bus, but Dani sits down next to him.  
  
“You might need to work on your cardio a bit,” the girl laughs. Jon’s face is as red as a stop sign.  
  
“Haha, right,” Jon replies, “I was on the horse riding team at Thenn Valley, but Westeros doesn’t have one. I haven’t exercised in a while.”  
  
“Maybe you could join the football team?”  
  
“No way! Those football guys would knock me over in a heartbeat.”  
  
Dani takes a closer look at Jon. He isn’t very tall, she has to admit. The boy isn’t muscular either, but that could change if he’d give the team a try.  
  
The bus is gradually getting closer to the school, and with every stop it gets more crowded. Dani scans the students that step aboard hoping to spot on of her cheerleading friends. She sees some familiar faces among the people on the bus. The group of boys in the sitting in the back often hang out near the fields. However, except from Jon, she wouldn’t be able to call anyone by name.  
  
One stop before they get to the school, an eye catching girl hops on. Her raincoat has a thousand different colors. Her long, chestnut hair is shining in the morning sun. The drizzling had stopped as soon as she got in sight. Apparently she knew Jon. The girl sat down on the seat behind Dani and Jon’s. She tapps him on his shoulder to get his attention.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone,
> 
> Thanks for reading, commenting, leaving kudos, and bookmarking my fic. I appreciate the feedback :)


	6. Lab partners

“Oh, hey Lyanna,” Jon says. The boy politely turns to sit sideways so he can see both Dani and the new girl.  
  
“Hi, how’s it going?” Lyanna smiles. “Who’s your company?”  
  
This question really surprised Dani. Most people in school knew exactly who she was. The girl wondered if it was just because she wasn’t wearing her uniform, or if this eccentric girl who just got on the bus was an exchange student too. That would explain things.  
  
“Lyanna, meet Dani. She lives close to where I’m staying. ”  
  
Dani beholds the unknown girl. She didn’t like sharing conversation partners. Especially not if that conversation partner was a boy. Especially not if the other person had no idea who she was talking to. Dani wouldn’t talk to Jon when they got to the school, probably, but not receiving his undivided attention right now made her jealous.  
  
The bus arrived at Westeros High before any more words were exchanged. Dani did not enter through the front entrance, avoiding any further conversation with Lyanna and Jon, instead walking to the back of the school. If she wanted to get to her locker, or lockers, the back entrance would be faster anyway.  
  
“Right, I had forgotten about that,” Dani grumbled, looking at the disgusting pieces of gum still stuck to the metal doors.  
  
Covering her hand with a tissue, careful not to touch any of the pieces, Dani opened the locker she had claimed from Jon. She took out her Westeros Clovers uniform and closed it back up, leaving it empty. The girl stuffs her uniform, her coat and some of the contents of her school bag into the locker that actually belongs to her. Dani was a bit ashamed of how she had treated Jon earlier as he had been kind to her. He could have his locker back for now.  
  
Before Jon could get to the lockers Dani had already disappeared into the crowd. She first went to the front office to report her gummed locker to the janitor. The janitor turned away from Dani to grab his cleaning cart without even replying to her. She didn’t blame him. This wasn’t the greatest start of his day.  
  
A buzzer announcing the start of the first class sounded and students stepped out of the hallways and in to the classrooms. Up ahead from where Dani was standing a group of girls in Clovers uniforms and football jerseys appeared, Dani ran up to them to join them. Together they walked to their first class of the day: chemistry.  
  
At Westeros High, a new academic year meant new lab partners. The students knew that lab partners have to be chosen strategically, because they would be attached to them for a significant amount of time. Your partner had to be smart, but also a person you could easily work an communicate with.  
  
Lab partners don’t get assigned, the students get to pick them themselves by simply sitting down next to them during the first lesson of the year. Dani slowly walks through the classroom, looking at the students who had already paired up.  
  
The first row of tables was nerd territory. The second row was taken by more popular students who had paired up with nerds, hoping to profit from each other this coming year. The third row of tables consisted of couples in love. Dani walks past all of these rows towards the back. There she sees Sansa, now captain of the cheerleading team, at a table by herself.  
  
“Good morning Dani, did you sleep well?” Sansa asks. There was a trace of insincerity in her voice, but Dani’s mind it too occupied by finding a lab partner for her to notice.  
  
“Morning,” Dani says, “want to partner up?”  
  
“I can’t, sorry. I already planned on partnering with Tyene. ”  
  
Dani looks back at the group of girls she just walked in with. The Sand sisters stood by the classroom door, laughing, gossiping, occasionally looking in her direction.  Dani had no doubt Obara and Nymeria would pair up if Tyene was partnering with Sansa. _But then who am I going to pair up with?_ Dani thought.  
  
The girl decides to take a leap of faith and sits down at an unoccupied table. The first student to walk into the classroom now would probably end up being her lab partner. The chemistry teachers typically divide the students between their classes making sure there was an even number of students in each one of them, so whatever student was still missing was probably late for class.  
  
_Who would be late on their second day of classes?_ Dani thought, _Daario?_ _Very possible._ Before the girl could come to any further conclusions, she and the other students get distracted by a rumbling noise in the hallway approaching the chemistry classroom.


	7. Lyanna Mormont

Apparently it wasn’t just the popular kids who came to class late during their first week back. Lyanna dragged her wheeled backpack behind her when she entered through the classroom door, struggling frantically to get it over the threshold. The wheels rumbled on the floor tiles as the girl jerked it inside. _A wheeled backpack? Really?_ Dani shook her head.  
  
Lyanna mumbled some excuse towards the teacher and then walked up to Dani’s table in the back. It had taken a moment before it downed on Dani; Daario must have gotten assigned to the other class. Her lab partner for the entire year would be Lyanna, the girl who didn’t even know her name until this morning.  
  
Lyanna doesn’t greet Dani; she sits down without saying a word. Instead, she attempts to communicate with a boy a few rows in front to her. Using fierce hand signals, Lyanna tries to convey a message. The boy looks at her apologetically. Confused, Dani witnesses their disorganized conversation.  
  
Dani knew the boy, but couldn’t quite place him. _He might have been on the football team,_ she thought. She could not remember why he left or if got kicked off. Players leave the team for all sorts of bizarre reasons.  
  
“Guys, may I have your attention?” the teacher started. The students in the room settled down.  
  
“When I point at you, please state your name. I will write down the partner combinations of this year.  After that, we will take a look at our first assignment,” the man continued.  
  
The teacher blindly pointed his finger at the different tables in the room, not taking his eyes of his paper. _How was the teacher ever going to remember their names, if he didn’t know what face went with what name?_ Dani thought. Though it was efficient, Dani had to give him that. The teacher was quickly making his way to the back of the room, row by row.  
  
Next up was the table with the boy Lyanna had been trying to contact. The girl sighed desperately, nervously bouncing her left knee up and down.  
  
“Loras Tyrell,” the boy next to him stated.  
  
Lyanna looked at Dani, her eyes begging her to speak up.  
  
“With Daenerys Targaryen,” Dani said to her own surprise, spelling out her name before the other boy got a chance to state his.  
  
Still not looking up from his notes, the teacher finished writing down all the lab partner combinations and started his class.  
  
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Lyanna shouts after class, “Jon was right, you’re not as bad as you seem! ”  
  
“You guys were talking about me? I guess I’ll take it as a compliment,” Dani says.  
  
She tries calming Lyanna down. Dani feels a bit uncomfortable with the entire situation. She is unsure why she even did what she did. The girl hardly knew Jon’s friend. Heck, she hardly knew Jon, and yet she was now helping her out by partnering up with someone she had never even talked to before. If only Daario would have come through that door, this school year would have been a lot easier.  
  
Loras and Rickon, the boy Lyanna had been trying to contact during class and who was now her lab partner, were watching the girls from a distance. They smiled as Lyanna jumped up and down in excitement and as Dani tried to contain her, to no avail.  
  
“I owe you, big time. Do you need help with anything? I’ll do anything for you, thanks a million! ” Lyanna continued.  
  
The boys walked up to them. Rickon put his hands on Lyanna’s shoulders to calm her down and stop her from jumping around. Dani wasn’t sure how to act around all these new people. She observed the happy bunch, unsure of what to say.  
  
“Well,” Dani started. She hesitated. “How about working on our first assignment together? We could get to know each other a bit? ”  
  
“Agreed, that would be nice,” Loras confirmed.  
  
The assignment had to be handed in tomorrow. They had to compare the homework they had prepared for today’s class with another student’s, and note down where and how their works differed. Rickon had mentioned that this just meant there was less work to check for the teachers, which was true. Still, Dani was of the opinion that it was a very useful assignment. Plus, working on it with the four of them might make the process of getting to know her lab partner a bit less awkward. Loras proposed going to his house after school. The four students agreed and then parted ways.  
  
Dani hadn’t seen Daario all morning. This didn’t upset her much, because she wasn’t sure how he would react to her after what went down last night. However, during lunch, she saw him in the cafeteria. He had just grabbed a tray and was waiting in line. Dani couldn’t start ignoring Daario either, so she too grabbed a tray and got in line behind him.  
  
“Hey Dani,” he said in a friendly tone, contrary to what Dani had expected.  
  
“Oh, hey,” she replied. She is about to give him a lengthy apology, but Daario stops her.  
  
“Don’t worry, it’s okay,” he smiles, “you should meet my parents, they can be very unreasonable as well.”

Dani sighed with relief. She tried making it go unnoticed but her efforts were in vain, Daario was standing much too close to her.  
  
“Wait. What did you expect? Don’t assume the worst, silly” Daario jokes.  
  
“I’m not completely sure what I expected, but I surely did not predict you would react like this.”  
  
“Did you predict this?”  
  
Daario puts down their trays, softly pulls her closer, and gives her a tender kiss on her lips. When he pulled away, Dani’s cheeks were rosy and warm. Daario was even sweeter than Dani had thought. The cafeteria could have instantly become her favorite romantic spot in the entire school, hadn’t they been bluntly interrupted by the cafeteria lady.  
  
“Do you want broccoli or green beans with your lunch?”  
  
“Come on, let’s eat,” Daario smiled.  
  
They both collected their meals and sat down at a broad, unoccupied table.


	8. Cheer Captain

The rest of the day went by smoothly.Dani had discussed the chemistry homework with Loras after exchanging numbers, they had agreed to meet up in front of the building at five o’clock at the end of the school day. This would give Dani plenty of time to attend training.  
  
She had tied her hair up in a ponytail and walked towards the fields behind the building. It was an unwritten rule that everyone on the cheerleading team had to wear their hair in ponytails when in their uniforms, Clovers etiquette. Solemnly Dani stepped onto the grass.  
  
Coach Tywin had already directed to football team to start their warming up exercises. The boys usually started earlier than the cheerleading team, girls had to make sure they looked well put together first. Representing the school as a cheerleader remains an important task. Not that being in the football team wasn’t, but the players get muddy and sweaty right at the start so appearances didn’t matter as much.  
  
Dani noticed there were not that many Clovers on the field yet. Concluding she would still have plenty of time before her training started, she took a seat on the stands to tie her shoes a little tighter. And to watch the boys. Daario, mainly. She liked glimpsing at him like that, seeing how he moved around and guesstimating how strong he was.   
  
A man threw a football in Daario’s direction. He didn’t see it coming at first, but the boy turned around and managed to catch the ball after the man called out his name. Daario shouted and applauded his own move. A few of his teammates joined in the celebration. Daario gave the ball to one of them, brushed off some of the mud and grass from his shirt, and walked over to the man that had hurled the ball.  
  
Dani couldn’t quite see them clearly. He was a teacher at Westeros High, Spanish, she believed. However, Dani had chosen to study German instead of Spanish, so she wasn’t completely certain. _Is Daario getting detention? _ _It ’s not uncommon to see few students in practice if teachers have decided to be particularly strict on a certain day,_ Dani thought, noting the small number of football players and cheerleaders present.  
  
Torgo wasn’t there, and she didn’t see Theon either. Theon had been away last year, but he used to be a excellent player. Dani had expected Theon to return to the team now that he was back. At that moment something comes to her mind. _That’s right, Theon had picked up swimming instead. _  
  
The Spanish teacher talked to Daario while they walked away from the field together. Dani got up from the stands, there was nothing interesting to watch anymore. The girl headed over to the area where the Westeros Clovers practice. The cheerleaders had started getting into position, and Dani noticed she would be able to stand all the way in the front of the line today.  Sansa was absent. The cheer captain and the Sand sisters were all gone, just like some of the football guys were.  
  
During practice Dani felt like the star of the team. She danced the best she could and flawlessly performed all the steps of coach Cersie’s complex choreography. The girl was trying to stand out. Now that her competition wasn’t present, Dani tried to show the coach that she was the team’s number one performer. Dani finishes up her last few steps with a cheerful smile on her eager face.  
  
She gets to the shower room and quickly turns on the lukewarm water. The hot water stopped working properly months ago, and the school had neglected to get it fixed because it was summer and they didn’t really need it. _Hopefully, they repair the showers before winter sets in,_ Dani thought.  
  
She was meeting Loras, Rickon and Lyanna soon, so she had to hurry. Dani usually showers when she gets home, but that was not an option today as she was going to Loras’s house. The girl gets dressed. She then dries her hair with a hair dryer she took from on of the other girl’s bags, and sets out toward the main entrance of the school.  
  
It’s time, but Dani’s chemistry classmates are not there yet. She takes out her phone, texts Loras to ask him where he is, and then pretends to text other people as well just so it looks like she has something important to do. The students around Dani seem to be staring suspiciously at her, which made her quite uncomfortable.  
  
_Where is everybody at?_  
  
Murmuring voices of two people seemed to come from around a corner, it sounded like the babbling was getting louder and louder, and closer to Dani.


	9. Behind the Reception Desk

The first person came from around the corner and was about to enter the school through the main entrance, it was Daario. Dani wanted to follow after him, since her classmates were not there yet anyways, but held back once she saw the second student appear. Daario held the door open for Sansa and the two of them went inside.   
  
Dani observed the couple from behind a window, and then followed them inside once the girl thought she could go in unnoticed. The girl hid behind a vacated reception desk, just within hearing distance from Daario and Sansa. The redheaded girl was giggling, was touching him, and Daario didn't undertake anything to prevent her.   
  
Jealousy was visible in Dani’s eyes. She really didn’t want to look at what Sansa and her crush were doing, but Dani had to know. Sure, she and Daario were not really dating yet, but that didn’t mean he could just go fool around with other girls. Carefully she got up, so she could look just over the edge of the reception desk.   
  
Daario and Sansa were standing in the middle of the hallway. They stood so close to each other; it almost looked like they were entangled. _How could I be this stupid,_ Dani thought to herself, _I’ m nothing, almost something, but not quite yet._ _ It’s Sansa who was the most important girl of the school as of this week. _ She had achieved what Dani could only dream of.   
  
Daario and Sansa walked farther into the school and Dani lost her visual. She felt defeated and wanted to gohome. She could discuss the chemistry project over text of need be. Dani was about to get up from behind the desk when she heard another murmuring sound coming her way. The girl carefully hid again, because she was in a place she wasn’t supposed to be seen doing something she wasn’t supposed to be doing, she didn’t want anybody to find out.   
  
It seemed like a large group of people was approaching the main entrance. Some voices sounded familiar to Dani. She could distinguish Torgo an Theon, and the Sand sisters, but many she could not place. _ That Spanish teacher must have had a busy day. _ Dani may be a cheerleader, but that didn’t mean she got detention very often. Dani would graduate next year and wanted to be able to enroll at a good college after that.   
  
Again, Dani peeks over the top of the reception desk. She is genuinely surprised when she doesn’t only see the popular students standing in the hallway. Loras, Rickon, an Lyanna are a few feet away from her, they are leaning against some lockers. Did they get detention too? Dani pondered what the three of them could have been doing that would have upset a teacher that much.   
  
Lyanna takes a look at her watch.   
  
“Dani should have been here by now, let’s go back outside and hope she doesn't make us wait too long.”   
  
“Strange,” Loras sighs,  “she texted asking where we were, but isn’t even here herself.”   
  
“You guys go ahead,” Lyanna suggests,  “I’ll wait here. I still have Jon’s coat in my locker. ”   
  
The two boys nod and go outside. _ Jon? He got detention too? _ It seemed impossible to Dani. She remembered she never told Jon she had freed up his locker again. She wondered why Jon hadn’t asked her about it this morning, they were on a more friendly basis now after all.   
  
Another group of people walked past with Jon a short distance behind them. Lyanna opened her locker, which was a little down the hall, and Jon took his coat. Dani can’t clearly hear what the two are talking about now. After a minute or so Lyanna walks away, probably to join her waiting friends. Dani hides herself a little better as Lyanna walks past the reception desk, it would be very strange if she was discovered like this by the people who she was supposed to meet up with.   
  
Dani hears the big doors of the main entrance close after Lyanna gets out and relaxes her tense body. Can she finally get out from behind the desk unnoticed? The girl slowly rises again.   
  
“What’s up?”   
  
“Whaa!” Dani screams, startled. She looked straight into Jon’s eyes.   
  
“What are you doing?” he asks cautiously.   
  
“I wish you wouldn’t ask.”   
  
In her mind, Dani goes over what she has been doing for the past couple of minutes. Her classmates were still outside waiting for her, probably, but could she come work on the assignment today? Could Daario and Sansa indeed be a couple? Jon notices Dani gets uncomfortable, he steps aside to let her out of the reception area.   
  
“Are you alright?” Jon asks, concerned.   
  
Dani doesn’t want to talk. She walks past Jon, ready to lock herself in her bedroom for the rest of the day. Yet, before she even puts some significant distance between him and herself, the boy wraps his arms around her and embraces her in his arms.   
  
“Jon?”   
  
Jon doesn’t let go of Dani. The girl’s protests don’t get her anywhere, so she gives in and rests her head against his shoulder. Dani is not a girl quickly brought to tears, so she just breathes out heavily.   
  
“I’m such an idiot,” she says, her voice smothered by the fabric of Jon's clothes.   
  
“No,” Jon shakes his head.   
  
“It’s true,” Dani says.   
  
“I wasn’t talking to you actually, your friends just wanted me to let you go.”   
  
Dani tilts her head. She first sees the kind smile on Jon’s face. Next she notices Lyanna, Loras, and Rickon, who had come back into the building again and were waiting for her near the main entrance.


	10. Cinnamon Buns and Lattes

_What am I doing?_ _I have to go,_ Dani thinks.  She looks at Lyanna, Loras, and Rickon, who are standing around waiting for her. Still being held tightly by Jon she couldn’t check her phone for the time, but it must be long past five. _Hopefully Loras has a car, because we aren’t going to make it in time for the school bus._ There was no backing out of doing homework together now. How long had they been standing there like this?  
  
“Jon, I’ve got to go,” Dani says. She tries to subtly escape from his hold by taking a few steps back, but Jon just matches her moves.   
  
“Not yet,” Jon says with firmness in his voice.  
  
“Uh, excuse me, but...,” Dani struggles to escape from the embrace until she isn’t pressed against Jon’s body anymore, but he then grabs her arms instead.  
  
“First you will tell me what is going on,” he says. “Why were you hiding? Why do you think you’re an idiot?”  
  
“You shouldn’t just assume I would want to discuss private matters with you,” Dani snapped, viciously. She had raised her voice, even though Jon was right next beside her. The girl had to let some of the anger and disappointment she felt towards Daario out, and Jon just happened to be there.  
  
“I assumed… But, this morning… You were...,” Jon is shocked by Dani’s violent response. He lets go of her.  
  
Dani walks away from him, turns around to mumble an incoherent “see you tomorrow”, but doesn’t get a reply.  
  
“What was that all about?” Lyanna asks when they step outside, but Dani ignores her question.  
  
“Let’s hurry and get to Loras’s house. We need to get started on our chemistry assignment. We’ve lost a lot of time,” she says. The four students get into Loras’s car and drive away from the school, to his house.  
  
Loras lives in a very modern, bright house. The students started working on their assignments in his bedroom, which essentially took up the entire basement. However, it didn’t look anything like a basement. Loras mentioned he had decorated the rooms himself, and the boy seemed to be pretty proud of the result.  
  
The chemistry assignment turned out to be easy to complete, but still the four of them wanted to take a break when they got about halfway through. Loras and Rickon went upstairs to get drinks and snacks from the kitchen, leaving Dani and Lyanna behind in the bedroom.  
  
“Can I ask you something?” Lyanna politely asked, once they were alone. She sounded a little more uncertain than her usual confident self.  
  
“Sure,” Dani replies, but only so that no awkward silence would arise.  
  
“How did you come to be one of the Clovers?” Lyanna asks, she has one of her eyebrows raised.  
  
“I don’t know,” Dani lied. She bit her lip and didn’t look Lyanna in the eyes. _Don’t think about Daario now, Dani, don’t do it. _ The girl must have had other motives when she started out, but at the moment her sole reason was to get noticed by the boy. “Why do you care?”  
  
“You’re just trying to get closer to Daario, correct? You seem to be eying him constantly,” Lyanna said, burning resentment in her voice. “Whatever happens, I don’t think Daario will be a part of your future life. And you aren’t some cheerleader who doesn’t think about her life after high school, so you should let him go. Be sensible.”  
  
“What would you know about that?” Dani was unsettled by Lyanna’s little lecture. “As if a guy like Daario would ever be interested in you. You don’t know what you’re talking about, or what it’s like.”  
  
Lyanna didn’t flinch.  
  
“Make no mistake. Daario would date anyone on the cheerleading team. Sure, he may be attractive. You may admire him because he can be charming, because he’s muscular, or you may like him seeing as he is a little bit of a bad boy. But that’s what makes him dangerous. He uses different acts to get to different girls. I fell for a guy like Daario once, about a year ago. I was lucky Rickon was there to save me. We’ve been together ever since.”  
  
Lyanna’s story came unexpected to Dani. _ Was all of that true? _ She wondered. Sure enough, Daario always hangs out with a bunch of different girls, but Dani didn’t think he would date any of them. _They kissed, after all. Would he kiss any of them? _ That thought appalled her. On the other hand, Lyanna had no reason for lying to her.  
  
“I think I might need to be saved as well,” Dani admits silently, “could you help?”  
  
“Perhaps I was mistaken, maybe you’re not that smart,” Lyanna jokes and laughs. “You don’t need me as your heroic savior, silly, you’ve already found yours. You should pay some attention to your friends.”  
  
Dani carefully thinks about that comment before she replies.  
  
“Who would that be? I’m not telling the entire team. That would be so embarrassing, they would just make fun of me.”  
  
“Dani, you’re not one of the Clovers,” Lyanna sighs.

“What do you mean? You see me wear my uniform, right? See me practice on the field, together with my teammates?”  
  
“Oh shush,” Lyanna interrupts, “that’s all on your outside, you should find your inner self. The real Dani. If you were a Clover on the inside, I would detest you. But that’s not the case.”  
  
Lyanna put her gentle hands on Dani’s arms, just like how Jon had hold her before.  
  
“Use your head, girl, but you could always come to me if you need help.”  
  
“Cinnamon buns and lattes!” two cheerful voices sound.  
  
Loras and Rickon come down the stairs, both carrying a loaded tray. They place them between Dani and Lyanna. Lyanna lets go of Dani’s arms and takes a bun. The delicious snacks and drinks put a smile to Dani’s face, even after all she had just discovered.  
  
Dani is fascinated by how the three of them interacted. They looked like they belonged to a team of their own, one that could certainly defeat the professionally trained squad of coach Tywin. They looked comfortable with themselves; they seemed happy with who they were.   
  
_I want to be like them._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, everyone who is reading my story!
> 
> I'm glad you stuck around through Dani's narcissistic phase, she's improving from here on out ;-)


	11. The Tantalizers

When the four students had finished up their assignments and had eaten all of the cinnamon buns, Lorasoffered to drive everyone back.Dani willingly accepted, since she didn’t feel like asking someone to come pick her up or walking all the way home by herself. Lyanna and Rickon had asked to be dropped off at a fast food joint so Loras took them there first.  
  
It was just Dani and Loras in the car after that. The girl didn’t mind, she had gotten used to his company. Both felt at ease. Loras was playing his music. He hummed along to the beat of the music and drummed on the steering wheel with his fingers. Once more, Dani noted how he seemed completely comfortable with who he was.  
  
“So, how do you feel about this coming a school year?” Dani asks, as a conversation starter.  
  
“Huh?”  Loras sits up, leaving his thoughts behind and returning to what is going on around him.  
  
“With me as your lab partner, I mean,” Dani explained.  
  
“Oh yes, that should be fun,” he sends her a friendly smile. Loras then shifted his eyes back to the road and retreated to his thoughts.  
  
He’s so innocent, Dani thought. Someone like him would not get detention, ever. She was wondering why else a guy like him would have to stay late. Or someone like Lyanna or Rickon, all of them seemed like they belonged to the cliques with good students, or to the geeks even. Dani asked Loras how he had gotten detention.  
  
“What do you mean, detention?”  
  
“You were at school long after classes ended. Later I saw you walking down the hall with some of the members of the cheerleading and football teams. I’m guessing they had gotten detention, but what were you, Jon, Lyanna and Rickon doing there?”  
  
“Oh I see,” Loras replied, “you must be confused. We were not in detention. I’m never in detention. Nor were the cheerleaders and football players, this time. Have you ever heard of The Tantalizers?”  
  
Of course, Dani had heard of The Tantalizers. Everybody at Westeros High knew about them and knew they should be avoided. However, she had never understood what exactly The Tantalizers were all about. Coach Cersei described them as the most pathetic theatre club in existence. She said the people that belong to The Tantalizers are a sad bunch of miserable outcasts, eccentrics.  
  
“Coach Cersei has mentioned them before, I believe,” Dani says, hesitantly. Loras seems to be proud of The Tantalizers, and he clearly belongs to them. He likely wouldn’t appreciate a full report of one of Cersie’s tirades. But Dani is smart enough to not judge the theater club just based on the stories she had heard.

  
“So, what is it that you do there?” she asks, genuinely interested.  
  
“You honestly don’t know?” he asks, surprised.

They arrive at Dani’s house. Loras parks his car, but the two stay seated and continue their conversation.  
  
“The Tantalizers is the greatest club in the entire school, but it’s not just because of what we do there. We practice singing, dancing, and acting in the auditorium, and perform one show at the theater in town each semester. On top of that it's an escape. It’s a safe space where everyone just comes to have fun, where they don’t have to worry about who they are. In acting and pretending to be someone else, you get to know who you really are.”  
  
“That sure sounds a lot more positive than coach Cersei’s stories,” Dani admits.  
  
Her mind, however, is full of vivid images of Tantalizers being bullied. Club members were outcasts and are typically excluded from school events by the other students. If not bullied, they were completely ignored. Dani didn’t know some of the Clovers and football players were Tantalizers too, but she understood why they would keep something like that a secret.  
  
“It can be hard sometimes,” Loras says, as if he feels what Dani is thinking about, “especially because everyone at the school seems to be against The Tantalizers. Though whenever you are in need of support, you can trust the club members have your back.”  
  
Dani didn’t altogether understand what Loras was saying, but she assumed that was just because she wasn’t a Tantalizer.  
  
“Right, I guess. In any case, thanks for the ride,” Dani says as she steps out of the car.  
  
The girl walks towards the front door as Loras turns around at the cul de sac and drives away. Irri opens the door and takes Dani’s bag while the girl kicks off her shoes.   
  
“You’re being expected in the dining room, miss,”  Irri says.  
  
Right, dinner. Dani steps into the elegant dining room. Her brother and Varys are sharing a cup of fragrant tea. Apparently they ate without her. Doreah was taking dirty plates to the kitchen on a serving cart and Irri hurried after her to get Dani a cup of tea as well.  
  
“Sit down, dear sister,” Viserys said sternly, “we have a proposal for you.”


	12. Choices

It’s fair to say Dani has always been wary of the things being offered to her, especially when her brother was involved. The girl knew Varys and Viserys would always give her something, but she would have to give up something also. Viserys always says it’s to test whether or not Dani really wants the thing she has been asking for.   
  
Dani was curious but cautious. She sat down at the long dining table, and Irri brought her a hot cup of tea. She was dying to know with what they had come up with this time.  
  
“What do you have in mind?” she asks, “I’m ready.”  
  
Varys folds his hands and mysteriously looks from Dani to her brother. Viserys straightens his before he starts speaking. The brother is always the one doing the talking, when he’s home that is.  
  
“We realize there are not many children your age that still take the bus to school. This morning my own car broke down, and it got me to realize that it’s quite difficult to get around without one, seeing as we live quite a ways away from the city center. You’ve got your licence. You should be able to use it. So we’ve decided that I’ll get a new car and that you can take over my old one. It’s completely fixed, and it’s waiting for you in the garage.”  
  
Dani let out a happy squeal, she had trouble containing her excitement. It took her a moment to regain her posture. The girl had taken a sip of her tea and took a deep breath before she looked back up at her brother. He then started the conditions that would apply.  
  
“Still, cars are expensive whereas using the school bus is free. You don’t have a job, and we would not want to force you to get one, so we don’t think it’s fair for you to have to pay for your car’s upkeep, gas, insurances, et cetera. Therefore, we have come up with a different solution instead.”  
  
Viserys slid a piece of paper across the table. He had drawn up a contract.  
  
“Should you choose the car,” Viserys’ sly eyes scanned Dani, “Varys won’t finance another one of your yearly trips with the cheerleading team. They are so costly, missing one of those little getaways should be able to offset all the costs of this car, at least until summer. You could get a summer job after that.”  
  
Visery wasn’t wrong, the team vacations were expensive. Last year the team went to a sunny beach resort in the south. They danced in the sand near the ocean, sang by the fireside, an came up with such a notable new routine by themselves even coach Cersei was impressed. Missing out would suck, but Dani wanted that car. A car would be much more impressive than a “Greetings from” t-shirt from wherever their next trip would take them.  
  
“Alright, I accept,” she tells Varys and Viserys, then she signs the contract.  
  
Twenty minutes later Dani is laying down on her bed with some books and her laptop. The girl is trying to work on some assignments before she goes to bed, but it’s tough. English literature is not Dani’s favorite subject. _I should have known something was wrong when the teacher said “Welcome back, let’s just jump into it!”. The similarities between Shakespeare and George Orwell? I’m much too tired for this, I’ll finish it some other time._  
  
“Ugh, freedom!” Dani sighs, as she knocks all her books from her bed and causes them fall on the floor.  
  
The girl puts her laptop away on her nightstand and turns off the lights. She stares at plastic stars that light up on the ceiling. Some might say they are a bit childish, but Dani preferred her room that way. She hadn’t redecorated it since she first slept in this bedroom, the continuance brought her comfort. _Some things do stay the same, always._  
  
Dani has never had any friends over. Varys has asked her a couple of times as to why, but she had never given him a straight answer. She would tell him they lived too far out of town, or that her friends preferred to throw parties at their own homes, but in reality Dani merely wanted to keep one place to herself. Her room was her sanctuary.   
  
Laying there in the dark, slightly illuminated by the stars on the ceiling, Dani thought about what had happened to her today just like she always did. She thought of Daario, and about what Lyanna had told her about him. Dani looked over to check the time on her alarm clock. _It’s already past ten. Is it too late to call Lyanna? _  
  
Dani was curious to know what had happened between Lyanna and that other guy. She wanted advice on what she was supposed to do about Daario from here on out. The girl didn’t know what to do with the boy. Part of her craved him, and part of her wanted nothing to do with him. That latter part had gained some grounds on the first one today.  
  
Dani grabbed her phone and noticed she had missed a text. A text from Daario.


	13. Pillow Talk

_Boys don’t know how to text._  
  
Daario’s text was not much, but it was simple and sweet. “Good night, x” it read. Dani closed her messaging app and opened her long list of contacts. She scrolled down to the letter “L”. There it was, Lyanna’s phone number. She was hesitant about actually calling her. It was pretty late already. Lyanna might already be asleep, if not she may feel too tired to talk. Plus Dani didn’t know her that well yet.  
  
From time to time you meet someone new, but it feels like you have known that person for years. You’re not shy around them and don't hold anything back when talking to them. Dani decided Lyanna was such a person to her. Pressing the green phone icon, she pulled through and called her up.  
  
“Hey Dani!” Lyanna’s always joyous voice sounded through the speaker.  
  
“Hi,” Dani replied, a little less enthusiastically. Again, the girl wasn’t sure how to continue the conversation or how she should ask for what she wanted to know, but Lyanna quickly went on with her cheerful chatter.  
  
“And?” Lyanna asked inquisitively, “have you found out who your saviour is yet?”  
  
“No,” Dani sighs impatiently. _Of course not, it’s only just been a few hours._  
  
“Oh, come on!”  
  
“It’s not as easy as you think it is! Can’t you give me a list of names? In that case at least I would have an idea of where to look,” Dani tried to make it sound like a witty comment, but instead she just sounded discouraged. Lucky for her, Lyanna obliges.  
  
“Very well, I’ll give you whole bunch of names. If you think I’ve named the one who is going to get you back on your feet, tell me to stop. Got it?”  
  
“Got it.”  
  
Dani pulls her blanket a little tighter across her body, sets her phone a little closer to her ear, and tries to derive comfort from the plastic stars on her ceiling. Lyanna started her list of names. She initially named Dani herself, and then, after a brief pause, she named Rickon. _This is going to be a long night. _  
  
Lyanna mentions some more people; teachers and counselors, and then moved on to naming students. Dani just let her list the names, not pausing her because she didn’t know who exactly she was looking for. A couple of students the girl had never even heard of before. _They must be Lyanna’s friends_, Dani guessed.  
  
“Jon Snow,” Lyanna wisely suggested.  
  
“What!” Dani shouted loudly.  
  
She didn’t intend it to be a confirmation, more an indignant comment. Dani didn’t understand why Lyanna would name Jon of all people.  
  
“Indeed, exactly!” Lyanna joyfully called out, “Correct!”  
  
“You have got to be kidding me,” Dani stammered.  
  
“Come on, Dani, think! Pay more attention to him!”  
  
“Just so we’re clear, I absolutely don’t want to pay any more attention to him after what happened today and yesterday. You’ve seen how he acts when I’m around. Like this afternoon at the main entrance, the guy creeps me out.”  
  
“I think Jon reacted to your behavior better than I would have done, to be honest with you. Plus he has only just started taking classes at Westeros, you should cut him some slack, he probably doesn’t know how to fit in yet.”  
  
“You sure about that?”  
  
“Of course! We’ve been talking. Jon essentially said he was interested in Obara Sand. Pretty desperate, if you ask me. I’m not quite sure if he has realized Obara is in a relationship yet, but that won’t take him much longer. He’ll be all yours after that.”  
  
“Yikes, gross,” Dani makes gagging noises.  
  
“Like I said, pay attention to how he acts around you. Jon is completely into you! He just doesn’t know it yet. I’m convinced you two fit well together.”  
  
“Err, I’m not so convinced,” Dani says doubtfully.  
  
“Well, think about it. Pay a little extra attention to him,” Lyanna again says. “Anyways, I’m going to bed. Talk to you tomorrow!”  
  
_That sure is a lot to think about,_ Dani thought. _Great, that means I’m going to lose a big chunk of my night’s rest to over analyzing Jon. _ The girlputs her phone away and closes her tired eyes.


End file.
